JESUS IS GREATER

So many people - those with no religious faith, and those from other world religions - try to assure us. Sincerely trying to find common ground they affirm Jesus as a great teacher or a powerful prophet. They honour Him as one of the greatest, but only that and no more. They wonder why we are not satisfied with this honour.

Yet we who take the biblical record seriously, who really take Jesus seriously, cannot settle for anything less than professing that Jesus is the Greatest. We must assert that He is far greater and claimed to be far greater than any other human.

I affirm His greatness as once again I read through Matthew's Gospel. For example, in Matthew 9, Jesus speaks to the paralyzed man "Your sins are forgiven". Then Jesus  confirms that it is as easy for Him to forgive sins as it is to heal the paralytic. In the same chapter Matthew records the healing of woman sick for a dozen years; healing of a blind man and one unable to speak; and finally the raising of a dead girl. In chapter ten He asserts that his followers must love Him more than they love their parents or their own children. In chapter twelve He insists that He is greater than the greatest object in Judaism - the temple; that He is Lord of the God given Sabbath; that He is greater than the prophet Jonah and greater than the most powerful of ancient Israel's kings, Solomon. No prophet would demand what Jesus demanded or say about himself what Jesus said.

It is no wonder that the writer of Hebrews goes to some lengths to teach and argue for the greatness of Jesus.  Jesus demonstrated His greatness and claimed this unique greatness for Himself. The authors of Scripture proclaim it many times. His greatness, His uniqueness, His deity are what move believers to worship and love Jesus, to serve Him and sacrifice for Him. We cannot accept any teaching that subtracts from the Greatness of Christ.

To honour Him as great or as one of the greatest, is to dishonour Him. Jesus is Greater!